Beastmode, bonuses and being good

According to a report by Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch is expected to skip the mandatory team minicamp next week because he wants a contract extension.

Lynch signed a four-year deal that paid him $30-million, including $6-million in the form of a signing bonus. The problem is he signed that contract two-years ago. Beastmode's base this season is $5-million and he's scheduled to make $5.5-million in 2015.

This is what happens when you get good. The 49ers are experiencing it and, to some degree, so are the Seahawks. People want to get paid. People want more of the pie. People want what they think they deserve. That's called human nature…and although Beastmode runs the ball with such ferocity it makes you question his humanity, he's apparently just like everybody else.

The way the game works in the NFL is the longer the contract the more up-front money you get in the form of a signing bonus. So guys sign these four and five-year deals, knowing they're going to break their word, break a signed contract after 2 or 3-years, but they keep the signing bonus up front.

This is disingenuous at best and malicious at worst. I'm all for players making the most money they can and too many NFL teams come back and ask for players to take pay cuts after they underperform their contracts. But they don't ask, nor would they ever receive, for signing bonuses to be returned.

But the player knows the longer the contract the more signing bonus he'll receive and then, when things go well, he's suddenly underpaid.

Marshawn Lynch signed his name to a contract…he should honor that contract. If he wasn't happy with his contract two-years ago he should never have signed the contract. But he did…because he wanted the signing bonus of a four-year deal. Let your conscience be your guide.